FBI Releases 2010 Crime Statistics for Oregon and Washington

Today, the FBI released its annual Crime in the United States report for American cities. Nationwide, violent crime (per 100,000 people) fell by 6.5 percent in 2010. Property crime (per 100,000 people) was down 3.3 percent. The FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting program collects data on the following crimes: murder, forcible rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, larceny-thefts, and motor vehicle thefts. In 2010, each of those seven categories saw decreases nationally.

Some highlights from cities with populations of more than 100,000 people in the Pacific Northwest include:

• The rate of violent crime for Oregon’s cities decreased by 3.3 percent (per 100,000) people and property crime increased slightly by 0.4 percent (per 100,000 people).
• The rate of violent crime for Washington’s cities decreased by 6.7 percent (per 100,000 people) and its property crime rate increased slightly by 0.7 percent (per 100,000 people).
• In Portland, there were decreases in the numbers of rapes, robberies, and aggravated assaults. There were increases in the numbers of murders (up from 19 to 22), burglaries, larceny-thefts, and motor vehicle thefts.
• In Eugene, every crime category saw a decrease with the exception of rapes (up to 80 from 73 in 2009).
• In Gresham, there were increases in every crime category except for larceny-thefts and motor vehicle thefts, which went down or stayed virtually unchanged.
• In Salem, there were decreases in the numbers of murders (down to one from five in 2009), rapes, robberies, aggravated assaults, burglaries, and motor vehicle thefts. There was an increase in the number of larceny-thefts.
• In Vancouver, there were decreases in the numbers of murders (down to zero from six in 2009) and rapes. There were increases in the numbers of robberies, aggravated assaults, burglaries, larceny-thefts, and motor vehicle thefts.

More than 18,100 city, county and state law enforcement agencies voluntarily submit data to this nationwide, cooperative statistical effort.

The FBI simply compiles the information as it is provided from local jurisdictions. You will need to contact those local jurisdictions for any analysis of the numbers listed above. Also note that the report features a prominent message cautioning against using the statistics to rank cities or counties. Such rankings can lead to simplistic or incomplete analyses, overlooking the many variables impacting crime and its reporting.

- View the entire report